Cliffcrest

Around the Neighbourhood

Cultural landmarks: The Cliffcrest branch of the Toronto Public Library sits right on Kingston Road, and R. H. King Academy, one of the oldest high schools in the former Scarborough, anchors the neighbourhood’s history. The real landmark, though, is the Bluffs themselves.

Hot local spots: At the bottom of Brimley Road, Bluffer’s Restaurant & Event Centre serves Greek-leaning lakeside dining, with the Dogfish Pub & Eatery downstairs handling wings, burgers and a dockside patio. Up on Kingston Road, Cliffside Hearth Bread Company is the local bakery worth the stop, and Cliffcrest Plaza covers the everyday supermarket-and-errands run.

Parks & green space: Bluffer’s Park is the headliner, with its sandy beach, marina and yacht club. Cudia Park and McCowan District Park add quieter green space, and the Bluffs trails are the reason most people fell for the place.

Your Typical Neighbour

Cliffcrest is a homeowner’s neighbourhood. The housing stock leans heavily to single detached houses, ownership rates are high, and there are relatively few mid- or high-rise buildings, so turnover is slower and people tend to stay. Families with children make up close to half of all households, with a meaningful share of one-person households and couples without kids filling out the rest. The apartment buildings and some subsidized housing along the north side of Kingston Road add real economic and cultural diversity to what is otherwise a settled, established community.

Source: City of Toronto Neighbourhood Profile, Cliffcrest (Neighbourhood #123), 2021

What We Love

The Bluffs and Bluffer’s Park, full stop. There’s nowhere else in Toronto where you get a real beach, a marina and a sand-cliff view this far from a highway. The streets are mature and tree-lined, which is most of where the cottage feeling comes from. The schools genuinely deliver, which is why families compete for the catchment. And the mix along Kingston Road means good, affordable, no-fuss food is easy to find without driving.

What We Don’t Love

If you want haute cuisine or a buzzy café scene, you’re getting in the car. The dining here is honest and affordable, not destination-fancy. Bluffer’s Park is a victim of its own appeal in summer: the single road down to the lake backs up badly on hot weekends, and parking fills early. The Bluffs are also actively eroding, so lake-edge lots come with a long-term question mark worth asking about. And despite the GO line, this is a neighbourhood where life works much more smoothly with a car.

Real Estate

This is a mature neighbourhood, and the tree-laden streets are a big part of the cottage feel. The split runs along Kingston Road. The north side sees apartment buildings and some subsidized housing, which keeps the demographic mixed and the food offerings interesting. On the lake side, the housing shifts to 1940s and 50s builds in a range of layouts: bungalows, storey-and-a-halfs, and two-storey semis and detached homes. The smaller cottage-style properties that capture Lake Ontario views have often already been renovated, and the presence of a couple of very well-respected schools keeps demand steady.

Prices are calmer than the downtown core but still react to market pressure, and on the better houses a quick, decisive offer is often the only way to land one. Worth comparing against the neighbours: Cliffside next door, which shares Bluffer’s Park, and Guildwood further east for a similarly leafy, lake-adjacent feel. To see what’s currently listed, start here.

 (the live TRREB statistics block below shows the current quarter’s prices).

Transit

Eglinton GO is the standout: it can get you to Union in around thirty minutes, often faster than driving downtown at rush hour. Kingston Road bus routes connect to the subway for the rest of the TTC network. For daily errands, though, plan on a car. Groceries, the hardware run and getting the kids around are all easier on four wheels here.

Schools

School offerings in Cliffcrest  (and nearby Beaches) are plentiful, and the level of family participation is evident in the high performance ratings that many have. This fact is a significant contributor to the popularity of the ‘hood among young families.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Fairmount Public School
H A Halbert Jr Public School
R H King Academy
Mason Road Junior Public School
É Élém Laure-Rièse
Anson Park Public School
Bliss Carman Senior Public School
Chine Drive Public School
H A Halbert Junior Public School
John A Leslie Public School

SENIOR SCHOOLS
Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate Institute
SÉS Étienne-Brûlé
David and Mary Thomson Collegiate Institute

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS
ÉÉC Georges-Étienne-Cartier
ÉÉC du Bon-Berger
ÉÉC Saint-Michel
ÉSC Père-Philippe-Lamarche
St. Theresa Shrine Catholic School
St. Agatha Catholic School

For school rankings and Fraser Institute scores, see our interactive Toronto school map.